INVENTION OF THE BARBARIAN

• Cartledge, 'Greekness'


  The term 'Greekness' is not perfect, but still valid, because the Greek people were so different to each other.
• Dillon and Garland, Greek identity


  Greeks had common language, origin and religion. They did not know what being Greek meant, only that they were what barbarians were not.
• Holland, patchwork


  Greece was basically a patchwork of violent and argumentative city-states.
• Holland, fighting


  The thing that all Greeks had in common was an addiction to fighting one another.
• Cartledge, unity


  There was no chance of a proper country being made from Greek nationality.
• Dillon and Garland, Greek unity in war

  Greek unity was achieved in a time of great crisis, against a common enemy.
• Holland, Athenian concessions


  Giving the Spartans command of the fleet was a bitter expedient for Athens.
• Holland, liberty


  Xerxes' rule may have felt like liberty to those who had suffered under Spartan rule.
• Cartledge, unity(?)


  The supposed unity of the Greeks was really a shaky coalition of 30-40 poleis out of 700.
• Cartledge, propaganda


  The Athenians' alliance was not as Hellenic as Athenian propaganda suggested.
• Holland, barbarians


  All non-Greeks were barbarians, a term originally meaning incomprehensible language, but later used to indicate cultural inferiority.
• Hall, politics


  Athenian writers portrayed themselves and the barbarians as different because the former were democratic and the latter were tyrannical.
• Hall, inventing barbarian


  The reason for inventing the barbarian was the need for an alliance against Persia.
• Holland, effeminacy


  The Greeks liked to think that people who wore trousers could only be effeminate.
• Holland, vanity


  Persians were so obsessed with physical appearance that every nobleman kept a makeup artist in his train.
• Villing, Persian sources


  Persian sources contradict the Greek image of uncontrolled, cowardly, weak Persians ruled by a whimsical king.
• Villing, Ionians


  To the Persians, all the Greeks were 'Ionians'.
• Villing, Persian tolerance


  The Persian empire was relatively tolerant and Greek cities under their control generally prospered.
• Hall, unity(?)


  The Greeks were never united by their geopolitics.
• Holland, exaggeration


  Grotesque exaggeration of figures.
• Holland, mistake


  Persian Mithras was male, not female.
• Carteldge, triumphalism


  Herodotus did not succumb to the Hellocentric triumphalism that followed the Greek victory over the Persians.
• Cartledge, fairness


  There is even-handedness in Herodotus' treatment of the Greeks and non-Greeks.
• Waters, Herodotus


  Herodotus' narrative is a cautionary tale of hubris.
• Holland, Herodotus


  Herodotus is inherently cosmopolitan.
• Holland, Athens' culture


  Herodotus is a key part of Athens' literary culture.
• Holland, respect


  Herodotus is hugely respectful of the Persians.
• Holland, Xerxes


  Herodotus gives a positive portrayal of Xerxes.
• Holland, sponsorship


  Herodotus may have been sponsored by an Athenian as a writer.
• Holland, warning


  Herodotus writes his Histories as a warning against having too much power.
• Holland, freedom


  In Herodotus' opinion, the Athenians can defeat their enemies because they are free.
• Holland, Xerxes and religion


  Xerxes had the genius for turning the religious sensibilities of alien peoples to his advantage.
• Holland, wealth


  Xerxes' wealth is 'stupefying'.
• Holland, hubris


  Xerxes' hubris is caused by "the fact that he can command the resources of the entire world".
• Curtis and Tallis, Greco-Persian wars


  For the Persians, the Greco-Persian wars were just a troublesome frontier skirmish that took place far away from Persepolis.
• Curtis and Tallis, Greek perspective


  The Greeks present the Greco-Persian wars as a conflict between freedom and democracy, tyranny and despotism.
• Holland, Greco-Persian wars


  Herodotus frames the Greco-Persian war as a world war between Europe and Asia, whilst to the Persians it would have been a mere border skirmish.
• Holland, despotism


  What the Athenians call saving Greece, the rest of Greece calls despotism.
• Cartlege, bias (?)


  Herodotus saying that Athens was the true saviour of the Greeks is an objectionable statement, but one that he considers to be true.
• Villing, Greek culture


  For the Greeks, the Greco-Persian wars were vital in accelerating their culture, especially in the case of Athenian democracy.